Beetee and Finnick Play Slender
by NutsandVolts
Summary: ONESHOT: Hunger Games victors Beetee and Finnick have survived almost everything and claim to have no fear, but can they keep their pants dry when Gale sneaks them a copy of an ancient computer game called Slender?


Beetee sighed quietly and brought his index fingers to his temples, rubbing them irritably. He understood why his fellow victor and friend Finnick was so distraught—the love of his life was in the clutches of the Capitol—but the sound of him pacing the floor directly behind him made the fidgety inventor even more nervous. Finally, he said, "Finnick, could you sit still, please?"

"Sorry," Finnick muttered, sitting beside him. "I'm just..."

"Distracted, I know," said Beetee sympathetically. "I understand. But if it makes you feel any better, I don't think they're doing anything more than holding Annie captive, Finnick. She knows nothing."

Finnick sighed. "You're probably right. I can't help but be worried, though..."

Beetee smiled and patted his hand. "Annie will be okay, Finnick. I promise. She'd want you to quit worrying, you know."

His lips twisted in an ironic smile. "Yeah, I know."

A knock on the workroom door made the victors turn around. Gale, a friend of Beetee's who often helped him construct weapons for District 13, came in with a USB drive in his hand. "Hey, Beetee. Finnick." He let a significant amount of coolness leak into his voice; it was common knowledge that Gale believed Finnick to be after Katniss, Gale's best friend and love. Beetee, of course, knew that Finnick's heart belonged to Annie Cresta and that any other suggestion was completely ridiculous. "Are you two busy?" Gale asked.

"No," said Beetee. Finnick shook his head as well.

"I found something in Command," said Gale, lowering his voice. He held out the USB drive. The two victors stared at him in confusion. "Do you know what this is?" Gale asked in hushed tones.

"A Universal Serial Bus drive," said Beetee matter-of-factly.

"Well, yes," said Gale, "but do you know what's _on _it?"

"No," Finnick said.

"Slender," said Gale simply.

Beetee and Finnick stared at him. "What?" asked Finnick.

"Slender," Gale repeated. "It's a game."

"It sounds remarkably, um, sexual," said the inventor, reddening and adjusting his ill-fitting glasses.

"It's not," Gale replied. "It's supposed to be scary."

"Scary?" asked Finnick. He scoffed, some of his old humor returning. "We're victors," he said, gesturing to himself and Beetee. "We're not afraid of anything."

Beetee nodded. "Indeed we aren't," he reiterated.

Gale grinned. "Oh. Then I suppose you two victors wouldn't be afraid to play Slender."

Again, Finnick scoffed. "Of course not," he said cockily.

"We aren't frightened by a silly game," Beetee added.

Gale placed the USB drive in Finnick's palm. "Then play it, tough guys," he said.

"Why should we?" said Finnick. "What will you do if we play it?"

Beetee's eyes lit up. "If we play this Slender game and win," he said, grinning evilly, "then you have to propose to President Coin. Get on one knee and beg her to marry you."

Finnick smiled at his older, nerdier counterpart, impressed. He had no idea Beetee could be so diabolical.

"Avoid Slenderman _and _collect all eight pages? Deal," said Gale.

"If we lose—which we won't—then we'll do it," Finnick added.

"Nah," Gale said. "Believe me, after you two lose that game, you won't need any more humiliation."

Finnick rolled his eyes. "Be on your way, young one," he said, shooing Gale with his hand. "Beetee and I have a game to win."

Gale laughed and left the room. Beetee took the USB drive from Finnick, swiveled in his chair, and plugged it into the computer. After downloading the game, Finnick and Beetee arranged their chairs so that they both had access to the keyboard and mouse. A strange crunching noise came from the speakers as the words _Parsec Productions _appeared, white against the dark screen.

"That sound seems too intentional to simply be low resolution," Beetee mused.

Finnick just nodded as if he knew what Beetee was talking about.

The word _Presents _replaced the previous ones on the screen. The crunching sound continued. Soon, the word disappeared, and after a pause, the screen wiped across, revealing the word _SLENDER _in all capital letters, the writing scratched and large.

"This is it?" Finnick laughed. "This is pathetic."

Beetee nodded in agreement. "Do you suppose President Coin will accept Gale's proposal or have him thrown into the dungeons?"

Finnick laughed again. "Which is worse?"

"I'm not sure," said Beetee.

The word _SLENDER _wiped away, revealing a small spotlight illuminating a dark forest. Written in white were the words _Collect all 8 pages._

"Only eight?" said Beetee with a laugh. "Perhaps Gale actually _wants _to marry President Coin after all."

The two laughed as the words faded. Using the arrow keys on the keyboard, Finnick walked their unseen avatar through the dreary forest in search of those eight pages. He whooped in triumph when they came upon the first page. Beetee, however, was less pleased than disturbed when he read the inscription: _LEAVE ME ALONE._

"Um...way to go, Finnick," said the inventor, tugging at his shirt collar.

Finnick looked at him. "What, are you scared?"

"No, of course not," said Beetee, shaking his dark-haired head.

Finnick continued navigating through the forest, where they came upon an old truck. "Go toward that," said Beetee. "Perhaps there's a weapon we could use to defeat this Slenderman. If there's wire, we could construct a trap—"

"I doubt that," said Finnick. "Sorry. But hey, maybe there's a trident." His sea-green eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Maybe," said Beetee, seeming dejected.

When they reached the truck, however, they discovered it was empty of any useful supplies; however, the building behind it had another page. Finnick happily clicked it; Beetee looked away upon realizing it read _HELP ME_. "Two down, six to go," said Finnick. "This is easy."

"Yeah," Beetee replied weakly.

They continued through the forest; upon realizing that they had limited battery life in their flashlight, they turned it off briefly. When they turned their flashlight back on, they saw a building in the distance. "I'm going," said Finnick before Beetee said so.

Suddenly, in a space between two trees, was a tall, white figure in a suit with obscenely long arms. He had no face. The figure, who must be Slenderman, was so frightening that Beetee emitted a high shirek before Finnick quickly steered them toward the building. "Calm down, buddy," said Finnick, though he now seemed a bit scared as well. "We're okay. We're okay."

Beetee nodded shakily. He had erupted in chills.

The building had white tiled floors, but no lights. "Would it kill these people to use lamps?" muttered Finnick. Beetee nodded in assent.

Upon further inspection, the victors discovered that they were in fact in a rather immaculate lavatory. "Not even the restrooms in Thirteen are that clean," Beetee said. Finnick laughed, turning their flashlight off again to conserve as much battery as possible.

Their exploration of the bathroom lasted a short while before the victors reentered the forest. They soon came upon a row of large, cylindrical, yellow containers with red stripes. "Perhaps there are tools to build an electric trap in one of those—"

"Beetee," Finnick interrupted, "we cannot and will not make an electric trap in this game. Give it up already."

Grumbling, the inventor folded his arms and scowled at the screen. "I'm not allowed to have any fun," he muttered childishly.

Beetee's disgruntlement immediately turned to terror when they rounded a corner and saw Slenderman once again. Beetee didn't shriek this time—he screamed.

"Finnick, that's him!" he yelled, shaking his friend violently and pointing to the screen. "It's Slenderman!"

"I know!" Finnick shouted back.

"Run!"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Frightened, Finnick pressed as hard as he could on the key that made their character run.

"Run faster!" Beetee insisted.

"I can't!"

"Press harder!" he demanded, covering Finnick's hand with his to aid in this.

Even in his terror, Finnick yelled, "That's what she said!"

Soon, the terrifying creature had vanished from their line of vision. His face white, Beetee sank back into his chair with a sigh of relief. Finnick was in the same condition.

"I don't want to play anymore," the inventor whimpered.

"No," said Finnick. "We are playing this game and watching Gale propose to Coin. We can win! We've survived the Hunger Games—are we going to let a computer game beat us?"

Trembling, Beetee shook his head and sat up a little straighter. Finnick pulled his hand free to lead their avatar toward a large collection of boulders.

"No, you can't make an electric trap with those rocks," said Finnick before Beetee asked.

Beetee scoffed. "You can't make an electric trap from boulders," he mumbled.

"Just in case," said Finnick.

Their lost confidence came back a little as they continued, approaching a mass of brick walls. "How many pages do we need?"

"Six—ah, five!" Finnick cheered as they came upon another one. Beetee's grin left his face as he read it. _CAN'T RUN._

"F-Finnick," he stammered, "I don't want to p-play any—"

His words were drowned out by his own scream as Slenderman appeared in the distance, tentacles flailing; Finnick left his ego in the dust and added his screams to Beetee's, embracing the inventor for dear life as a white face filled the screen, only it _wasn't _a face. The screeching of simulated electrical interference added its voice to Beetee and Finnick's voices as the victors screamed and hugged, as if protecting each other from the fictitious demon. Suddenly, very _real _footsteps approached and Beetee and Finnick turned, their screams increasing in volume. "Slenderman, take him! I'm too sexy to die!" Finnick wailed, shoving the inventor toward the intruder—not Slenderman, but Commander Boggs. Beetee and Finnick choked off their cries and Beetee scrambled back into his seat, bringing his knees up to his chest and reddening.

"What is going on here?" Boggs demanded.

Gale came up behind the commander. "I'm not sure," he said innocently.

Finnick's chest was heaving. "He," he declared, pointing at Gale, "is a monster! He made us play this game! It scared us half to death! We nearly _peed _ourselves—"

"I didn't nearly," Beetee whispered in a hollow voice, bowing his head in shame. Upon realizing what he meant, Finnick slid his chair over a few feet.

"I told you it was scary," said Gale simply.

"_What _is scary?" Boggs insisted.

"Slender," said Gale, removing the USB drive from the computer and giving it to Boggs. The commander gaped at him, his face reddening with anger.

"Soldier Hawthorne, Slender is strictly prohibited because of the adverse side effects!" he flared. "Nightmares, mood swings, heart palpitations, sweating, pallor, and, um...loss of bladder control." He avoided looking at Beetee.

"I'm sorry," said Gale.

"You better be," said Boggs. "Now, let's go. It's almost time for dinner and they're serving okra stew, my favorite—"

"Wait, wait, wait," said Finnick, standing. "Gale just scared us half to _death _and that's all he gets? He should be thrown into the dungeons!"

"For what? Introducing you to a computer game which you two should have known better before playing?" he said. "I think not. Now, report to the dining hall for dinner. But, um, Beetee...change your pants first."

"Yes, sir," Beetee mumbled.

Gale left. Boggs made to follow, but at the door, he snuck a glance at the two victors. "Oh, and by the way," he said with a smirk, "only three pages? On my first try, I managed to get six."

The inventor and his bronze-haired counterpart gaped at the commander as he left the room, chuckling.

* * *

**And, there you have it. :) I did this for two reasons—one, all of my friends are all into Slender, and two, I just watched another hilarious Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series video entitled "Marik Plays Slender." Which, by the way, inspired the actual scenes when Beetee and Finnick where playing. CardGamesFTW owns YGOTAS, Suzanne Collins owns the Hunger Games trilogy, and I don't know who owns Slender, but it isn't me. :P Anyway, please leave a review! More Beetick goodness—some friendly, some _very _friendly ;)—will hopefully be coming your way in the near future! And while I'm at it, please check out a poll on my profile! It's _super _important!**

**Hugs,**

**Wendy**


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